The Silk Roads: A New History of the World

Peter Frankopan

Aug 2015 · Bloomsbury Publishing

About this ebook

The No. 1 Sunday Times and international bestseller | A Sunday Times Book of the Decade
'Many books have been written which claim to be “A New History of the World”. This one fully deserves the title' The Times
A major reassessment of world history in light of the economic and political renaissance in the re-emerging east.

For centuries, fame and fortune were to be found in the west – in the New World of the Americas. Today, it is the east which calls out to those in search of riches and adventure. Sweeping right across Central Asia and deep into China and India, a region that once took centre stage is again rising to dominate global politics, commerce and culture.

The Silk Roads is a dazzling exploration of the forces that have driven the rise and fall of empires, determined the flow of ideas and goods and are now heralding a new dawn in international affairs.

Ratings and reviews

This book is again focusing on Western narrative of History. Quoting misinterpreted texts as references to justify greatness of Western philosophy where there has been many archaeological, astronomical evidence suggesting knowlege existed in India long before people starting to speak in west. Calling the book new and imbibing same supremacist attitude, quoting selective narratives all make it a failed attempt. When finding a sea route to India brought enlightenment and prosperity to entire West then it shows how much knowledge and resources got transferred from India.

This is was a good and enlightening read. Definitely, it took me much more time than I anticipated as it should be read in small chunks, processed and then another small chunk. What was great about it is that we can see a global perspective on history rather than a separate study of the region as it is often taught in class.

I feel like a had into this book blind to the workings of the world and emerged enlightened. Simply a great read that I would recommend to anyone who considers themselves uneducated in world history. This book has seemingly made sense (to me) of the current global struggles for power and position and highlighted the ordinarity of it all. I owe much to Peter Frankopan for sharing his knowledge. Once again. Great book.

About the author

Peter Frankopan is Professor of Global History at Oxford University, where he is also Senior Research Fellow at Worcester College, Oxford and Director of the Oxford Centre for Byzantine Research. He took a First in History and was Schiff Scholar at Jesus College, Cambridge, before completing his doctorate at Oxford, where he was Senior Scholar at Corpus Christi College. He has lectured at leading universities all over the world, including Cambridge, Yale, Harvard, Princeton, NYU, King's College London and the Institute of Historical Research. His revised translation of The Alexiad by Anna Komnene was published in 2009 and The First Crusade was published in 2012.